Luchino Visconti

*The Leopard* chronicles the decline of the Sicilian aristocracy during the Risorgimento, the 19th-century unification of Italy, through the eyes of Prince Don Fabrizio Salina, played by Burt Lancaster. The film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival and is renowned for its lavish 45-minute ballroom sequence.

Yes, Visconti is considered one of the founders of Italian neorealism alongside Roberto Rossellini and Vittorio De Sica. His first film, *Ossessione* (1943), an unauthorized adaptation of James M. Cain's *The Postman Always Rings Twice*, is often cited as the first neorealist film, predating Rossellini's *Rome Open City* (1945).

Yes, Visconti was a prolific opera and theater director in addition to his film career, staging productions at major venues including La Scala in Milan. He directed Maria Callas in several celebrated productions, including a landmark 1955 *La Traviata* at La Scala conducted by Carlo Maria Giulini that became legendary in opera history.

Visconti's acclaimed filmography includes *Death in Venice* (1971), based on the Thomas Mann novella and starring Dirk Bogarde, and *Rocco and His Brothers* (1960), starring Alain Delon. He also directed *La Terra Trema* (1948), a neorealist masterpiece filmed with actual Sicilian fishermen in their own dialect.